In telecommunication systems and particularly the telephone network there are many wires and cables connected to all manner of equipment. For example a switchboard may have hundreds of individual wires connected to it, the individual wires making up various cables.
The cables generally comprise an outer sheath of flexible plastic material and a number of individually insulated inner conductors. A butted cable is one where the outer sheath has been removed from the cable for a portion of its length from one end. The butt of the cable is that portion where the outer sheath stops.
In order to facilitate wiring a switchboard or other telecommunications equipment it is desirable to have all the cables and wires skinned ready for connection beforehand. The job of skinning cables and wires of their insulation manually is a tedius, time consuming and frustrating chore especially on cables as large as 36 pair of conductors. Other drawbacks of the manual system are the large possibility of errors such as nicking the inner conductors causing a weak area. As well it is most likely that the skinned portions will not be of uniform length.
The operation of the wire skinning machine can be considered as a series of operations. The first operation is the clamping of the butted cable to the work surface. The butt of the cable is placed next to a positioning mark on the work surface. The clamp is comprised of a moveable clamping member that presses down on the cable.
The inner conductors are fanned into a single layer by a member which has a wiping action starting at a position towards the butt of the cable and wiping toward the loose ends. The fanned ends of the wires are clamped to prevent moving during subsequent operations.
The wires are cut to length using a shearing blade. The insulation is then cut by opposed cutting blades, one moveable and one fixed. The depth of the cut made by the insulating cutting blades is such that the inner metallic conductors are not damaged.
The cut insulation is then slid off the inner metallic conductors by relative movement between the moveable clamping member which clamps the butt and the insulation cutting blades.